IoT for intelligent buildings will surpass $22 billion by 2026, research says

By: James Bourne

16, June, 2017

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The global ‘IoT for intelligent buildings’ market is set to surpass $22 billion (£17.5bn) in 2026, up from $6.3bn in 2017, according to a new paper from Navigant Research.

This is a topic which this publication has explored on various occasions. Unlike a lot of IoT technology which can be considered greenfield sites, the challenge of commercial buildings is constructing around previous work.

The report advocates that commercial building owners are ‘feeling the pressure to invest in intelligent building technologies that leverage the IoT, providing better insight on operations and equipment as well as access to real-time data for productivity, convenience, and sustainability’.

“Leveraging Internet-connected devices that collect and communicate data and software for data aggregation and analysis, IoT-enabled intelligent building solutions are secure, scalable, and interoperable,” said Christine Jung, research analyst with Navigant Research in a statement. “They support open communications and standards within the building space, assisting with reduced costs and improved integration possibilities.”

“The report advocates that commercial building owners are ‘feeling the pressure to invest in intelligent building technologies that leverage the IoT, providing better insight on operations and equipment as well as access to real-time data for productivity, convenience, and sustainability’.”

The report aims to answer a variety of questions, from the size of the market, to how building energy management systems have evolved in the context of IoT, as well as the drivers and inhibitors for the market.

One company mentioned in the report, in the ‘emerging IoT companies’ category, is IoTium. The company’s product collects data from brownfield machines, and sends it to greenfield applications which reside in public, private, and hybrid clouds.

Speaking to this publication last month, chief executive Ron Victor explained the importance of the issue and how it relates to his previous projects, connecting aluminium smelters and copper refineries to applications in the cloud.

“We did all kinds of great applications in the cloud, very rapid data throughput, but the problem, the disaster, the nightmare, was plumbing,” he said. “I am a reasonably tech savvy Silicon Valley entrepreneur – I know this stuff, and if I am facing so much of a problem, forget about the industrial side, that’s got to be a disaster.”

The IoT Tech Expo North America 2017 will also be exploring smart buildings in more detail, featuring an expert panel discussion within the ‘IoT in Enterprise’ conference track. The session ‘Panel: Smart buildings and lighting‘ will delve into what changes a building from simply being connected to being truly smart, how to use smart buildings and lighting to improve energy efficiency and what role traditional facilities management companies can play in this ecosystem. This panel discussion will be for Ultimate and Gold Pass holders, and will take place at 2pm on November 30th. You can view the full agenda and register here.